Int32 is an immutable value type that represents signed integers with values ranging from negative 2,147,483,648 (which is represented by the Int32.MinValue constant) through positive 2,147,483,647 (which is represented by the Int32.MaxValue constant). The .NET Framework also includes an unsigned 32-bit integer value type, UInt32, which represents values that range from 0 to 4,294,967,295.

Instantiating an Int32 Value

You can instantiate an Int32 value in several ways:

You can declare an Int32 variable and assign it a literal integer value that is within the range of the Int32 data type. The following example declares two Int32 variables and assigns them values in this way.

You can assign the value of a numeric type whose range exceeds that of the Int32 type. This is a narrowing conversion, so it requires a cast operator in C# and a conversion method in Visual Basic if OptionStrict is on. If the numeric value is a Single, Double, or Decimal value that includes a fractional component, the handling of its fractional part depends on the compiler performing the conversion. The following example performs narrowing conversions to assign several numeric values to Int32 variables.

You can call a method of the Convert class to convert any supported type to an Int32 value. This is possible because Int32 supports the IConvertible interface. The following example illustrates the conversion of an array of Decimal values to Int32 values.

You can call the Parse or TryParse method to convert the string representation of an Int32 value to an Int32. The string can contain either decimal or hexadecimal digits. The following example illustrates the parse operation by using both a decimal and a hexadecimal string.

Performing Operations on Int32 Values

The Int32 type supports standard mathematical operations such as addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, subtraction, negation, and unary negation. Like the other integral types, the Int32 type also supports the bitwise AND, OR, XOR, left shift, and right shift operators.

You can use the standard numeric operators to compare two Int32 values, or you can call the CompareTo or Equals method.

To format an Int32 value as an integral string with no leading zeros, you can call the parameterless ToString() method. By using the "D" format specifier, you can also include a specified number of leading zeros in the string representation. By using the "N" format specifier, you can include group separators and specify the number of decimal digits to appear in the string representation of the number. By using the "X" format specifier, you can represent an Int32 value as a hexadecimal string. The following example formats the elements in an array of Int32 values in these four ways.

You can also format an Int32 value as a binary, octal, decimal, or hexadecimal string by calling the ToString(Int32, Int32) method and supplying the base as the method's second parameter. The following example calls this method to display the binary, octal, and hexadecimal representations of an array of integer values.

Working with Non-Decimal 32-Bit Integer Values

In addition to working with individual integers as decimal values, you may want to perform bitwise operations with integer values, or work with the binary or hexadecimal representations of integer values. Int32 values are represented in 31 bits, with the thirty-second bit used as a sign bit. Positive values are represented by using sign-and-magnitude representation. Negative values are in two's complement representation. This is important to keep in mind when you perform bitwise operations on Int32 values or when you work with individual bits. In order to perform a numeric, Boolean, or comparison operation on any two non-decimal values, both values must use the same representation.

All members of this type are thread safe. Members that appear to modify instance state actually return a new instance initialized with the new value. As with any other type, reading and writing to a shared variable that contains an instance of this type must be protected by a lock to guarantee thread safety.